While My Pretty One Knits

This was a pretty adorable cozy mystery. I don't grab them for deep thoughts, controversial subjects or complex plots. I grab them for the fluff fun read they are.

I especially like that this one wasn't JUST about knitting, but about the friendships you make with others who love a craft you do too. Although predictable, I did love the addition of the vet and Tink.

I found this one either on LT or listed at my local library as a "knitting mystery," so of course I had to snap it up. And it was a good, quick, cozy mystery kind of read, set in the town of Plum Harbor, Massachusetts, inside of a knit shop with a group of friends.

Lucy, the POV character, is new to the town and fairly new to knitting, having arrived after a divorce in Boston. She freelances now and has time to wander into Black Sheep knitting and, of course, solve murders with the Black Sheep Knitters. There are two shops in this small town, Black Sheep which is fairly new and run by Maggie, widowed these past 3 years, and Knitting Nest, the established shop with all kinds of fancy yarns and spinning wheels and an owner who is known as show more a bit of a grump.

The story opens with one of Maggie's former high school art students starting her publicity tour of her first knitting book. Maggie is busily preparing the shop for a big crowd the night before when the owner of the Knitting Nest, Amanda, comes in to check the details and mention that she will be coming. Within knitting store protocols, this is known as a Big Deal. Everyone is a bit excited and nervous about this news.

Sadly, the next morning, Amanda is found murdered in her shop, and while Cara is able to do her presentation about her new book and patterns and ideas, the news definitely puts a damper on what would have otherwise been a great celebration. And of course, the Black Sheep Knitters put all their combined skills together and come up with who might have done it and why.

A dog is adopted from Amanda's shop (she had several), there is a bit of romance between Lucy and the vet in town (I'm finding this is a Thing within knitting mysteries) who treats the rescue dog, and arrests happen that turn the tale topsy-turvy.

This book got 3 1/2 stars from me because of the time factor: the amount of time Lucy has to spend to go shopping for her hot date, the little amount of time she has to spend with her client, that sort of thing. Though the mystery was an interesting twist, and well-solved, and I may pick up the next one in this series at some point in time. show less

Who doesn’t love a good knitting-themed mystery?

Maggie Messina is the owner of the Black Sheep Knitting Shop, and she’s wanted for the murder of her competitor. Her friends rally round her to support her and clear her name.

What did I love? Well, mainly the ‘bulletin board’ at the back of the book, which tells us how to dye yarn with jello, and the physical description of Maggie’s shop. I also found the adoption of Tink, an injured golden retriever-wannabe, to be touching in spite of the heartbreaking description of Tink’s illness early on.

What didn’t I love? I didn’t love the fact that in spite of Maggie Messina being the owner of the knitting shop and the main suspect in the murder, the entire story is told through the show more eyes of her best friend Lucy. Maggie is a unknown quantity; she seems to have little personality, especially compared to the rest of the women in the weekly knitting group.

I also didn’t love that I guessed the killer pretty quickly. Or that the title has absolutely nothing to do with the actual plot.

I’m giving this book three stars as a nod to the knitting mystery sub-genre, but I’m not inclined to read further. show less

This is a really enjoyable cozy. Each character is fully developed and like able. The only flaw was that the killer stuck out like a sore thumb from the beginning. The only questions was why. The novel wasn’t written to have the reader find the culprit so soon, but I still enjoyed it.

I enjoyed reading this book, but I finished it with a "meh". I liked many of the characters. (Especially the dog.) I appreciate that there was knitting in this knitting mystery. But it's not a new favorite. The rest of the series are books I will read if I get there. No reason not to read them, but no reason to go out of my way to pick them up, either. It was a fast read, I'll give it that.

Predictable ending!! I had it figured out less than halfway through. Additionally, she had some of her knitting terms wrong, which bugged the crud out of me. Fine for a non-knitter, but as a knitter, I had hoped she would at least do extensive research before throwing terms around. The character of Lucy was interesting though.

I have seen a couple of reviews for Knit, Purl, Die by this author so I went to check it out but discovered that it is second in a series. I decided to start with the first one, though I don't think it makes a difference.

While My Pretty One Knits takes place in the small town of Plum Harbor. Maggie is the owner of The Black Sheep Knitting Shop, a popular store in town. The Knitting Nest is owned by her nemesis, Amanda Doran, who has a history of causing trouble for Maggie. When Amanda turns up bludgeoned to death, the police look to Maggie as a prime suspect. But Maggie's friends Lucy, Suzanne, Dana, and Phoebe not only believe that Maggie is innocent, but that Amanda's estranged husband has the most motive and is acting rather show more peculiar.

review: This has all the elements of a perfect knitting cozy; set in a small town in New England, a popular knitting shop with close friends, and lots of yarn talk.
But unlike some I have read, the story is not told from Maggie's point of view, but that of Lucy Binger, a recent transplant to Plum Harbor, recovering from a divorce.

It took awhile to feel the connection to the characters and feel like they were connected. But near the end, it was there. I think the book would have been better had the author brought in more side characters, like the locals. Plus that would have given more options as to who the killer could have been. Instead, there are only a couple of options and that just makes it all to easy to solve the crime.

But it had a lot of potential, so I will read the next in this series, Knit Purl, Die. But if it has the mistakes of the first, I will move on.

rating- 3.5/5
reread-probably not
recommend- worth a try, get from library

FYI- I discovered this awesome cozy mystery website The Cozy Mystery Blog, that lists mysteries by genre, location, author, hobbies (knitting, culinary, etc), themes, and so much more. If you aren't already aware of this, check it out. It's a must for mystery lovers! show less